Shoe and art of making the same



Oct. 22, 1929. L. E. TOPHAM 1,732,318

SHOE AND ART OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 23, 1923 Z'Sheets-Shet 1 Oct. 22, 1929.

L. E. TOPHAM SHOE AND ART OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 2:5, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented a. 22, 1929 UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE LAURENCE E. TOPHAM, 0F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNO BTO' UNITED SHOE HA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF IATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY SHOE AND ART OF MAKING THE SAME Application filed April 23, 1923, Serial No. 688,955, and in France April 89, 1982.

This invention relates to improvements in the art of making shoes. As hereinafter illustrated and described, the invention-1e lates particularly to the production of insoles designed primarily for use in standardized shoes manufactured largely by automatic-machinery and of the general character shown and described in a co-pending application filed in the name of George E. Warren upon which Letters Patent No. 1,706,504, were granted March 26, 1929, being owned by the assignee of this application. However, the present invention is by no means limited in its application to use in connection with shoes of the character just referred to. y

A general object of the invention is to produce an insole. the rear portion of which shall be so shaped as approximately to fit, or to correspond with, the other adjacent parts of the shoe and which also shall present a smooth, comfortable surface for the foot of the wearer of the shoe, as wellas an attractive appearance.

In many shoes, as now commonly made,

a distinct crevice or space is observable be-,

twe n the edge of the insole and the adja cent portion of the inside of the shoe upper by reason of the fact that the lateral surface of the last at the heel and shank and, consequently, the inside of the shoe are inclined outwardly to a greater or lesser extent.

Accordingly, a particular object of the present invention is so to shape the rear portion of the insole as to eliminate *such a crevice, orreduce the liability that it will occur,- in the finished shoe. With this object in view, the invention, in one aspect,

provides a method of preparing insoles for purposes hereinafter indicated, may be turned backfrom the corresponding portion of the body of the insole during certain operations in the manufacture of the shoe, after which operations the flap will be restored approximately to its original position. Accordingly, 1n order further to insure against the occurrence of the objectionable crevice, above referred to, in the case where the rear end of the insole includes such a flap, the edge of the flap, according to another feature of the invention, extends beyond the edge of the body portion of the insole so that, when the insole is assembled in the shoe, the marginal portion of the flap will lie against the inside of the upper of the shoe. In another aspect, therefore, the invention comprises Shlftlh the margin of the flap of the insole inwar ly relatively to the margin of the body of the insble, then trimmin the margin of the body and incorporatm the insole in a shoe with the edge of t e fla extending beyond 'the trimmed end of t e insole. K

The invention, as it will preferably be practised, will now be described in detail with the aidof the accompanying drawings,

in the course of which description still other features of the invention will be pointed out,

after which the several features of the invention will be defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

. Fig. 1 is a view in perspective and partly in section vof a part of an insole blank and of molding apparatus which may be employed in manufacturing the insole,

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating a further molding, and the punching, of the insole blank;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a part of apparatus which may be used in trimming the insole, portions of the insole also being shown;

Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sections, respectively, on the lines IV-IV and V-V, Fig. 3, certain parts behind the planes on which the sections are taken being omitted for the sake of clearness;

6 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the rear portion of the apparatus and insole shown in Fig. 3 and illustrates one way in which the flap of the insole may. be folded during the trimming operation;

Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively a transverse section and a perspective view, partly in section, of the rear portion of the insole and of a slight modification of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is a perspective View, partly in section, of thecompleted insole with the flap at the heel end slightly separated from the body of the insole; I

Fig. 10 is a side elevation, partly in sec tion, of the insole and an upper assembled on a last; and

Fi 11 is a perspective view, partly in section. of the rear portion of a completed shoe in which the insole has been incorporated.

.The present invention comprises not only this novel insole and a method of preparing it but also the combination of such an insole with other parts to make up a shoe.

As has already beensuggested and as is illustrated herein, the insole and shoe, according to this invention, is preferably of the general character disclosed in the said Warren apphcation.

The insole, designated generally by the character 10, is made up of two or more layers of suitable material which may include a layer 1.2 of canvas in which a stitch-receiving rib or lip 14 is molded and to which the other layer or layers 16 are adhesively secured. If desired, the upper or foot-engaging layer may be of leather or imitati'on leather, or of other coated fabric material presenting a relatively smooth surface along which the foot of the wearer will slide easily as it is being inserted into the shoe. Outside of the rib 14, the insole has a feather 18 which is depressed or offset both at the toe, as shown at 20, andalso adjacent to the rear ends of the rib 14 and the breast line of the insole, as indicated at 21, and the longitudinal median line of the heel portion of the insole. The particular functions of these jig holes are more fully pointed out in the Warren application, already mentioned.

In manufacturing such an insole commercially, it is contemplated that the several layers will be died out more or less closely to, but preferably larger than, their final contour and that then the rib 14 will be molded in the layer 12 of the insole. The other layer or layers 16 will be located accurately and in predetermined relation to the layer 12 and secured permanently thereto by adhesive and under pressure. However, so far as the present'invention is concerned, the insole maybe built up in a variety of ways and with the aid of simple molding apparatus such as is illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 2 and such as is more fully described in another application Serial No. 633,475, filed April 20, 1923, in thename of George E. Warren, and also owned by the assignee of the present application. As herein shown, complementary molds and 38 are provided respectively with a groove 32 and a rib 40 corresponding in outline and depth to the rib 14 to be formed in the layer of canvas 12. After the ribbed layer 12 has been molded, as shown in Fig. 1, the other layer or layers 16 are deposited upon and in predetermined relation to the ribbed layer, adhesive'having been previously applied to at least one of the two layers in any suitable manner, and then all of the layers, while supported by mold 30, are subjected to pressure by a mold 42.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the lower mold 30 has fixed therein two hollow punches 44, corresponding in position and shape to the jig holes 26 to be formed in the insole and these punches project just far enough from the upper face of the mold 30 so that when the layer 16 is pressed down upon them by the mold 42, the punches will pass through the body portion 26 of the insole but will not pass through the flap 24 which, therefore, remains imperforate. Thus, as pointedout above and also in the Warren applications referred to, the jig holes 26 are located accurately in predetermined relation to the rib 14 of the insole.

According to the manner of practising the present invention herein exemplified, the margin of the insole is next trimmed in such a manner as to insure that its periphery and the jig holes 28 shall be in predetermined relation to each other, and therefore tothe rib 14, and, in order to insure the elimination of the crevice, above referred to, at the edge of the heel portion of the insole, the flap 24 is preferably either not trimmed at all, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, or is trimmed larger than the body, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

For performing the trimming operation. a rounding machine of the well known Planet type, modified as indicated in Fig. 3, may be employed. As shown, a combined support and pattern for the insole has a marginalupstanding rib 52. The inner wall of this rib or portions thereof are shaped to fit the outer side of the insole rib 14. The upper surface of the rib 52 also has a shape complemental vertically to the feather or marginal portion of the insole and constitutes a support for the insole the margin of which is clamped between the rib 52 and a clan'iping plate 54. As already suggested, the heel portion and, preferably also. the shank portion of the upper face of the rib 52 are beveled. as shown at 56, and the margin of the clamping plate 54 is correspondingly beveled, as at '1 so that by the clamping action of the plate 54 against the pattern the margin of the insole at the heel and in the shanl; will be distorted but the forepart will be undistorted; that is to say, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the margin of the rear portion of the'insole will be deflected at an angle inclined upwardly and outwardly as compared with both the margin at the toe and also the central portion of the entire insole. As shown, the bevel 56 is uniform but, if desired, it may be varied according to any ,degree of bevel or inclination which may be desired for the edge of the tinishcd insole.

For insuring the accurate location of the insole, especially longitudinally, upon the pattern 50, a jig pin 58 may be secured to the pattern 50 in position to engage one of the With the insole thus located and clamped,

it is trimmed around its periphery by a knife, indicated at 59,.which bears against and is guided by the outer face of the rib 52 so that, as already stated, the final periphery of the insole, except perhaps of the flap 24, is at every point located at a predetermined disl tanee from the outside of the rib 14. Moreover, after the insole has been released by the clamping devices 50, 54 and removed from the apparatus, it restores itself to its normal, fiat.

condition in which the edge of the body portion 26 of the insole along its shank portion and round its heel end-is beveled-to form a slightly oblique angle with the lower face as shown at and the margin of the flap.24 extends beyond the margin of the body portion 26 as shown at 61. Therefore, in the finished shoe when in normal position, the edge of these portions of the insole will be inclined in an outward and upwarddirection.

A modification in the method of, and the" apparatus for, trimming the insole is illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 wherein is shown a spacer or block 62 inserted between the flap 24 and the body 26. The spacer extends upwardly into the recessed rear portion of the clamping plate 54 and the central portion of the body 26 is supported in substantially horizontal position by a block 63 secured to the support 50. The spacer is jigged, or accurately positioned, with relation to the support 50, and the other parts, by means of a jig hole 64 in the spacer which fits the jig pin 58 and another similar interfitting jig hole and jig pin indicated at 65. Thespacer also tapers toward its margin, its shape being such that, through the insertion of the spacer between the flap 24 and the body 26 of 4 the insole, as clearly shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the margin of the flap. is shifted inwardly relatively to the margin of the body 26, in whieh relation these parts are clamped for the trimming operation, as a result of which the margin of the flap, after the spacer has been removed, extends outwardly beyond the margin of the body, the width of the exten-' sion, indicated at 61, being a maximum round the rear end of the insole and gradually diminishing to nothing in theflvicinity of the forward end of the flap.

A particular advantage of the method of trimming illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 is that, in the practise thereof, it is practicable to employ for the layer 16 of the insole a blank which is considerably larger, even at its heel end, than it will be in the finished insole (such a blank being commonly referred to as of block shape) and the flap of which requires neither to be trimmed separately from the remainder of the insole nor to be folded for the trimming operation.

-The manner in which the insole 10 is incorporated in a shoe is illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11 wherein the upper 70 of the shoe, molded at its ends, is shown as comprising a leather portion 72 a lining 74 a box toe 76 and a counter 78. The last 80 may conveniently be of the general type disclosed in the WVarren applications above referred to. At the toe and heel portions of its bottom face are formed marginal recesses or beveled surfaces corresponding approximately in location to the recesses 20,- 21 and 22, provided in the insole .10 to compensate, as already indicated, for

the extra thickness of upper materials at those localities so that the horizontal, i11- turned portions of the upper when mounted on the last will present an even seat for the heel and for the Welt of the shoe, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11.

Preferably, as pointed out in the Varren applications, above mentionedand as shown in Fig. 11, a reinforce 86, having two jig holes, one of which is shown at 88, corresponding to the ig holes 28 inthe insole, is inserted between the body portion 26 of the insole and the flap 24. A heel 90, shown as comprising a base section 92 and a rubber section 94 and formed at its breast face With a rabbet 96 to fit the rear end of the short outsole 98, is secured to the shoe by attaching nails 100 clinched on the inside of the reinforce 86.

As indicated-in Fig. 10, the flap 24 of the beyond the margin of the body portion 26 of theinsole,itwill close any crevice which might be formed between'the edge of the reinforce 88 and the lining 74. Also, the bevel formed at the margin of the body portion of the insole is inclined to correspond more or less with the inclination of the upper due to the sloping lateral surface of the last 80.

It may be noted that the slightly raised surfaces which are produced upon the upper face of the insole by the offset portions 20, 21, 22 not only cause no discomfort to the'wearer of the shoe but may even be a distinct advantage in that they tend to cause the insole to fit more closely to the rounded bottom of the foot.

What is claimed is:

16A method of preparing insoles which comprises temporarily distorting the rear portion of the margin of an/unattached insole blank out of the normal plane of the J blank, while leaving the forepart of the blank undistorted, and then trimming the blank by a cut generally perpendicular to said plane.

2. A method of preparing insoles which comprises temporarily distortin a portion of the margin of an unattached insole blank out of the normal plane of theblank, clamping the blank by engaging its opposite faces around its margin and progressively trimming the edge of the blank while so clamped in such a manner that the edge of the finished insole will be inclined relative to its faces.

3. A method of preparing insoles which comprises locating an insole blank in predetermined relation to clamping means by the aid of a rib and a jig hole in the blank, moving a part of said clamping means to distort the rear portion of the margin of the blank out of the normal plane of the blank and then trimming the entire margin of the blank in such a manner that the edge of the finished insole will be inclined relative to its faces at its rear portion but substantially normal to its faces around the forepart.

I 4. A method of making shoes which comprises temporarily distorting the heel and shank portions of the margin of the body of an insole blank out of the normal plane of the blank, trimming theblank while thus distorted in such a manner that the edge of the corresponding portion of the insole will be beveled and incorporating the insole in a shoe with the upper portion of said edge closely fitting the adjacent portion of the inside of the shoe.

5. A method of making shoes which co'mprises providing one end of an insole blank with a flap, shifting the margin of the flap inwardly relatively to the margin of the body of the insole, then trimming the margin of the body and incorporating the insole in a shoe,

with the edge of the flap extending beyond the trimmed end of the insole.

6. A method of making shoes which comprises providing one end of an insole blank with a flap, separating such flap from the body of the insole, trimming the margin of the body and incorporating the insole in a shoe with the flap in foot-engaging position and with the edge of the flap extending beyond the trimmed end of the insole so as to engage the inside of the upper portion of the shoe.

7. A method of making shoes which comprises splitting one end of an insole blank to form a flap, shifting the flap relatively to the body of the blank to bring the margin of the flap wholly within the margin of'the body, trimming the margin of the body. only, in-

corporating the insole in a shoe and returning the flap approximately to its original position.

8. A welt insole of which the foot engaging portion is of leather and of which the heel portion is divided to provide an upper flap and a lower body portion integral therewith and in which the edge of the flap round the entire heel portion and continuing forwardly into the shank portion extends slightly beyond the edge of said body portion, the edge of the insole at its heel and shank portions forming a slightly oblique angle. with the lower face of the insole and being inclined in an upward and outward direction to cause the edge of said flap and said inclined edge to fit closely against the inside of the upper of the shoe into which the insole is to be sewn.

9. In a shoe, an outsole', an insole the rear end of which is divided to provide an upper, foot-engaging flap and a relatively thick body portion and in which the edge of the flap extends beyond the edge of said body portion, in combination with an upper which extends beneath said body portion and the inside surface of which upper in the Vicinity of the divided edge of the insole is inclined upylvardly and outwardly and also engages said In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

- LAURENCE E. TO-PHAM. 

